Sir Richard Branson: Last of the Airline Mavericks

So there was Sir Richard Branson walking on the wing of a Virgin Atlantic Airways 747-400 with a British pop singer, Sarah Harding, despite threatening skies over Miami International Airport. At one point, Branson picked up Harding as two Virgin flight attendants joined him on the wing carrying U.S. and British flags. Photo op!

The next morning, at the Mondrian Hotel in Miami Beach, there was Sir Richard again, this time in a speedboat chasing another speedboat carrying supermodel Karolina Kurkova. At one point, he barked into a megaphone, “Pull over, this is Miami Vice and we're making an arrest.” When the boat he was chasing finally did stop, Branson jumped aboard and put a pair of golden handcuffs on a masked Kurkova. Photo op again!

Branson and Kurkova then came ashore next to the pool at the Mondrian, surrounded by photographers and TV cameramen. With little coaxing from them, he picked the supermodel up and made threatening gestures that he would throw her into the pool. Then, without warning, he jumped in himself carrying Kurkova. Final photo op!

As always, Branson is the inveterate showman. Indeed, he's probably one of the last true entrepreneurs left in a relatively moribund airline industry lost in high fuel prices, poor service and ancillary fee charges.

In this case, Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, was in Miami last week to promote the 25th anniversary of Virgin Atlantic’s London-Miami route. And beyond walking on a wing and jumping into a pool, he hosted parties at the former Versace mansion and at the Raleigh Hotel in South Beach.

Back in 1986, Branson says and he and his Virgin Music artists liked to travel to Miami to enjoy the beaches and the nightlife. Indeed, at the time his fledgling airline had just two 747s and two routes (the other was London-New York). Branson’s main reason for even entering the airline business, he says, was because he simply wasn’t happy with existing commercial service.

Flash forward 25 years and Branson is at it again. Even his press conferences are far from the norm. Wearing a new set of dry clothes but with hair still matted from his dip in the pool, he tackled his competition (British Airways), the high cost of oil, airport taxes and a slew of other issues – all in a style that reflected his maverick reputation.

On British Airways, for example, Branson acknowledged that Virgin Atlantic had lost its battle to prevent antitrust immunity for the BA-American Airlines alliance. But he insisted that major corporate customers were lining up to use Virgin Atlantic as an alternative – and that his airline was actually seeing business gains despite the supposedly dominant power of the AA-BA alliance. Then again, BA has always been Branson’s nemesis over the past 25 years – and probably for good reason.

On the high cost of fuel, Branson recommended that the assembled journalists read documents obtained by Wikileaks showing discussions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabian governments about the fact that the high price of oil is largely due to excessive and uncontrolled speculation. So one of the reasons airlines are having such a tough time these days is due to rampant speculation on oil futures. I have to agree on that point, but what other major airline CEO cites Wikileaks documents!

Virgin Atlantic remains one of the few carriers to remain independent of airline alliances. Branson and Steve Ridgway, the airline’s chief executive, insist they would consider joining an alliance only if it made sense to Virgin Atlantic. That said, their airline is still 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines, which is part of Star Alliance. There also has been much speculation that another buyer for the airline is in the wings, with reports earlier this year that Etihad Airways might be interested. But so far nothing has transpired on that front and Branson and Virgin Atlantic executives did not focus on future ownership questions.

For now, Virgin Atlantic seems content to firm up its links with a number of domestic airline partners, including Virgin America, Virgin Australia and Virgin Nigeria. Indeed, when Virgin America first took flight a few years ago, Branson was at pains to stay away from the fledgling carrier because other U.S. airlines claimed he was the true owner. These days, while his company now owns slightly under 25 percent of Virgin America (as mandated by U.S. law), Branson is actively promoting the new airline and its new routes. Indeed, when I asked him whether the barriers to entry were too great to start an airline as he did back in 1984, he pointed to Virgin America as an example of what still can be done in the airline industry.

To be honest, I still prefer flying on carriers like Virgin Atlantic when I travel overseas or Virgin America when I travel domestically instead of legacy U.S. carriers (indeed, I’m writing this column on a Virgin America flight to Las Vegas). The spirit and innovation exhibited by Branson and his Virgin Atlantic continue to revolutionize the airline industry – and he actually seems to have a lot of fun while doing so.

Branson remains a maverick and an entrepreneur in an industry that badly needs such people in order to shake things up a bit. And even 25 years later, he’s still willing to jump in a pool with a supermodel to do just that.

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